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Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. The top-ranked player in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft, Jones was named the best professional prospect in the WHL, and helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

NEW YORK -- Hello from the top of the Empire State Building!

I'm finally here in New York and I can't wait for the draft to get here. I got in Wednesday, and when I got to my hotel room, Nathan MacKinnon was there. We have the same agent, so I guess they decided to make us be roommates for the next few days.

We walked around Times Square and it was cool seeing all those people around the city. Then the two of us had dinner out at an Italian restaurant -- I can't remember the name, but the food was good.

It's my first time in New York City, and it's pretty cool. It's very hectic, very crowded. It looks just like the movies -- there's taxis everywhere, people honking horns. But there's also a lot of shopping, a lot of high-end places. It's cool to come here and definitely get this experience.

Fresh off winning the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane will be a guest on "Late Show with David Letterman," on Wednesday (11:35 p.m. ET, CBS).

Kane tied for second among all players with nine goals and 19 points in 23 playoff games. He had three goals and an assist in the Cup Final against the Boston Bruins, including the game-winning goal in Game 5 to give the Blackhawks a 3-2 series lead.

Also scheduled for the show Wednesday are actor Jamie Foxx, musical guest Wale and a Top Ten List presented by The Backstreet Boys.

Pat Brisson, the agent for two of the top players available for the 2013 NHL Draft, recently was asked which of his two high profile clients -- defenseman Seth Jones of the Portland Winterhawks or Nathan MacKinnon of the Halifax Mooseheads -- would be selected first at the 2013 NHL Draft, to be held Sunday at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (3 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN).

"At this point, you could flip a coin," Brisson told NHL.com. "They're two great players and you don't find too many of them. The teams that will get them will be thrilled for years to come because I've seen a lot of young players come in over the years."

The Chicago Blackhawks' Stanley Cup win Monday against the Boston Bruins will be rewarded with a regional cover of this week's edition of Sports Illustrated.

The team's remarkable come-from-behind 3-2 win against the Bruins in Game 6 of the Final showcases Dave Bolland's game-winning goal with 58.3 seconds left in regulation, 17 seconds after Bryan Bickell had tied the game.

The banner headline reads "First City," a play on Chicago's "Second City" nickname, and includes the cover line: Chicago's spectacular coda to a remarkable NHL postseason.

Tampa Bay Lightning director of amateur scouting Al Murray said he would prefer an accumulation of information over the course of a full season rather than single out one particular tournament in making final evaluations of prospects leading up to the draft.

Murray was asked if he felt the Memorial Cup performance by center Nathan MacKinnon of the champion Halifax Mooseheads would influence those teams who might have had defenseman Seth Jones of the Portland Winterhawks at the top of the their draft board.

"I can't speak for everyone else, but I know the way we think is an accumulation of information and not just one event," Murray told NHL.com. "The last event you see always sticks in your mind, but if you flipped the Memorial Cup to Christmas time and put World Junior Championship in April, then you'd have Seth Jones No. 1 because Seth had a dominant tourney there.

"Nathan played well [at the WJC], but his role with the team wasn't an offensive role with Team Canada and was more of an energy role. But the last time you see a player oftentimes influences people."

With just over four minutes remaining in the first period, Bruins forward Shawn Thornton's shot deflected up and into Shaw's eye. The 21-year-old lay prone on the ice favoring his eye as blood poured onto the ice and the TD Garden crowd grimaced at replays of the injury.

Shaw quickly made his way to the Chicago dressing room, where he absorbed more stitches than he could keep track of before returning to the bench for the second period. He barely missed a shift.

BOSTON -- After the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012, they managed to retain their entire roster and much of their coaching staff for this season. One of their only defections was assistant coach Jamie Kompon, who left the Kings to join the Chicago Blackhawks.

A year later, Kompon is the only person who can claim the distinction of being a two-time defending Stanley Cup champion. The Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 Monday in Game 6 to wrap up the Final.

"We had a great team effort from the onset, working back with Joel [Quenneville] and [assistant coach Mike Kitchen]. 'Getting the band back together' as we called it," Kompon told NHL.com. "It was instant chemistry. That chemistry carried on with the team. They responded unbelievably. Their resilience and attitude, it was phenomenal."

BOSTON -- No team wins the Stanley Cup without injuries, but they rarely, if ever, disclose them while the ride is ongoing.

The Chicago Blackhawks' doctors and trainers were certainly busy throughout the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and coach Joel Quenneville revealed some of what they had to deal with shortly after Dave Bolland's goal in the final minute completed Chicago's historic come-from-behind 3-2 Cup-clinching win against the Boston Bruins in Game 6 Monday at TD Garden.

Quenneville said Marian Hossa was dealing with a bad back; Michal Handzus had injuries to his hand and knee; and Bryan Bickell, who scored the tying goal Monday, suffered a Grade 2 knee sprain at the end of the Western Conference Final against the Los Angeles Kings. All Quenneville would say about Jonathan Toews, who played in Game 6 after sitting out the third period of Game 5, is that "he got his bell rung, he was fine."

BOSTON -- Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara has a Norris Trophy, several All-Star Game appearances and a Stanley Cup championship on his resume. The 6-foot-9, 255-pound blueliner is widely regarded as the best shutdown defenseman in the NHL.

So that he was on the ice for 10 of the Chicago Blackhawks' last 12 goals over the course of the last three games of the Stanley Cup Final was a major shock. There had to be a physical reason for Chara's struggles.

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I don't have a crystal ball. Predicting is a real complicated thing. If we stay healthy, have enough depth and get the good goaltending we think we're going to have, you can go all the way. But a lot of things have to happen. There's going to be a lot of teams that think the same thing. Everyone made deals. We're all are optimistic about where we'll end up.

— Rangers general manager Glen Sather after being asked if he's constructed a team that can win the Stanley Cup before their 4-1 win against the Predators on Monday